Money Saving March: Save on bills

I'm on a mission to save money in March! I'll be posting three times a week with ideas and challenges. Free free to join in! :)

Now we've got rid of the car, our three biggest expenses are rent, food and bills. We can't move any time soon and we're already taking steps to save money on food, so the next thing in my sights is lowering our bills!

Challenge 6 of Money Saving March is to save money on utilities! 

First thing's first, use a price comparison site to check whether you are on the right deal for you. I've discovered that I could save money by switching to another company, something which I intend to follow up on as soon as I can get a straight answer from my current supplier!

Lower your energy and water consumption. The weather's finally starting to get a little warmer (it's above freezing here, which is a good start!), so turn off the heating and put on a jumper! We still spend too long in the shower, something I am trying to work on! For a full list of ideas, check out my previous post about saving water/energy!

Other ways to save:

Find out if your internet supplier gives you a discount for paying in advance. My provider knocked £56 off the total for pre-paying our line rental for the next year.

Look at how much you ACTUALLY use your mobile. If you constantly overspend, find a way to cut back or up your contract allowance. If you find you aren't using what you're paying for, cut back to a lower package. I saved £60 a year by cutting back to the lowest sim-only contract I could find!

If it's yellow, you could let it mellow and save around £25 of water per person each year! This benefits the environment too, and no, your toilet doesn't get smelly!


Now I have six months' worth of data about how much we actually use, I can find the best deal for us! Don't forget, if you are going to switch companies for utilities, phones or the internet, ring up your current provider and see if they can beat the offer made by another company! Can you save by switching?